1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a sliver piecing device for piecing ends of slivers in a fine spinning machine.
2. Description of the Related Art
A fine spinning frame of a pneumatic type or an open end type is to produce spun yarns from the sliver.
For example, the pneumatic fine spinning frame is designed so that as shown in FIG. 6, a sliver S placed in a sliver can 1 is pulled out, the sliver S is drawn and arranged by a draft mechanism 2 and at the same time applied with a twist by a turning flow caused by an air jet nozzle 3, and the produced spun yarn Y is wound on a bobbin 4. When the sliver S in the sliver can 1 is reduced in quantity, an old can is replaced by a new one, and a distal end S1 of sliver of the old and a start end S2 of sliver of new can should be pieced.
The sliver is an assembly of fibers in which short fibers are substantially parallel with each other and in the form of web or rope. The fibers tend to fall into pieces depending on the handling, and therefore, mechanization (automation) of sliver piecing for piecing ends of slivers has been difficult to realize. For this reason, as matter now stands, the ends of the slivers are pieced manually by an operator, which is a troublesome work, thus desiring the mechanization. Replacement of cans can be easily mechanized but sliver piecing is hard to be mechanized, which leads to a difficulty of automatic continuous operation of a fine spinning frame. The sliver piecing poses a bottleneck of automation of a spinning mill.